21 Apr 2015 07:00
TIZIANA LIFE SCIENCES PLC
Issue of convertible loan notes and warrants
London, 21 April 2015 - Tiziana Life Sciences plc (AIM: TILS, the "Company"), the clinical stage biotechnology company focused on targeted drugs to treat diseases in oncology and immunology, is pleased to announce that it has raised £6.14 million (US$9.15 million) through the issue of 8,780,905 unsecured convertible loan notes ("CLNs") to new investors ("Noteholders"). Funds raised by the issue of the CLNs, together with the £2.55 million (US$ 3.80 million) raised through the placing of new ordinary shares on 31 March 2015, shall be used to fund the development of the Company's clinical stage assets milciclib and foralumab, to meet the Company's ongoing liabilities in respect of licence agreements, and for general working capital purposes.
The CLNs are redeemable by the Noteholders at any time after 25 June 2016 and will be redeemed, at the election of the Company, in cash or by conversion into new ordinary shares in the Company at a conversion price of £0.70 per share. Interest shall accrue quarterly on the CLNs at a rate of four per cent. per annum.
By way of an arrangement fee for the Noteholders agreeing to subscribe for the CLNs, the Company has granted to the Noteholders warrants to subscribe for up to 1,756,185 new ordinary shares in the Company ("CLN Warrants") at an exercise price of £1.05 per share. The CLN warrants shall be exercisable during the period from and including 26 June 2016 to 31 December 2017.
Gabriele Cerrone, Chairman and founder of Tiziana, commented: "Our total fundraising through new shares and CLNs of £8.69 million (US$12.95 million) will allow Tiziana Life Sciences to move the exciting projects in our portfolio through to their next inflection points. These projects include the ongoing phase II clinical trials of the Company's lead asset milciclib for thymic carcinoma, potential application of milciclib in breast cancer and liver cancer, and advancing foralumab, which has potential in a number of indications and markets."
Contacts:
Tiziana Life Sciences plc Philip Boyd, CFO | +44 (0)20 7493 2853 |
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP (Nominated adviser) Liam Murray / Avi Robinson |
+44 (0)20 7148 7900 |
Beaufort Securities Limited (Broker) Saif Janjua |
+44 (0)20 7382 8300 |
FTI Consulting Simon Conway / Rob Winder / Natalie Garland-Collins
|
+44 (0)20 3727 1000 |
About Tiziana Life Sciences
Tiziana Life Sciences plc is a UK biotechnology company that focuses on the discovery and development of novel molecules that treat human disease in oncology and immunology.
In January 2015, the Company entered into an exclusive license from Nerviano Medical Sciences relating to milciclib, a molecule which blocks the action of specific enzymes called cyclin-dependent kinases (CDK) involved in cell division as well as a number of other protein kinases. Milciclib is currently in phase II clinical trials for thymic carcinoma in patients previously treated with chemotherapy.
The Company also in-licensed another clinical asset in December 2014 from Novimmune. Foralumab is the only fully human engineered anti-human CD3 antibody in clinical development. This phase II asset has potential application in a wide range of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, type-1 diabetes (T1D), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis, where modulation of a T-cell response is desirable.
Tiziana Life Sciences' research team has discovered that Bcl-3 has a prominent role in the metastasis of mammary cancers, and has elucidated the mechanism of Bcl-3 action to be a regulator of cancer cell motility. Tiziana has also determined that Bcl-3 inhibition suppresses cell motility in triple-negative, HER-2-positive PR- and ER-positive breast cancer sub-types, suggesting that Bcl-3 may be a master regulator of this metastatic property not only in aggressive breast cancers, but across the clinical spectrum of breast disease.
For more information go to http://www.tizianalifesciences.com